A little bit of help for a newcomer?

Hey people,

I'm a big fan of gaming on the pc but I've never had a gaming rig. My old laptop broke down so I recently bought a (have a decent average knowledge on software, not hardware) Lenovo ThinkPad T400. While I should have done some more research before I bought it I needed it a lot at the time for uni-related issues. Specs:

Core 2 duo P8700 @ 2.53 Ghz
4 GB of RAM (only 3 being used because of windows xp 32 bit)
Intel gma 4500mhd iGPU
156 GB HDD Seagate (SATA)
Windows XP pro 32 bit SP3 (will probably upgrade to win 7 64 bit before attempting to set up the eGPU)

Obviously with this integrated graphics card I won't be able to play any games I want. I own an xbox360 which is good for gaming but a good gaming pc outperforms an xbox any day (also, MODS!).

My main goal with the diy ViDock is to ultimately be able to play PES 2013 on the highest settings. Even though at first I wanted to set up a mediocre gaming rig only to play some very beloved games from 2004-2006, I figured why not spend a little bit more and be able to play PES along with those older games.

So I came across the eGPU diy ViDock thread and have been doing research over the past few days so as to find out if my laptop is capable of pulling it off and even though I understand a lot by now I do have a few questions that need to be answered by people who know or have done it themselves. Here goes:

1. Had to figure out whether my laptop has an ExpressCard slot. On this link: http://www.lenovo.com/pdf/us/en/t400_and_t500_datasheet.pdf
It states at the ''ports'' section that it has a standard ExpressCard slot. Also, my chipset is an Intel ICH9M one, which means I can do a x2 1.0 link. Right? My question is: I realise some performance is lost on the 1x 1.0 link. Should I go for a 2x 1.0 link or will the x1.Opt that my laptop is supposedly capable of (because of iGPU) suffice? If i can do x2E should I opt for that or will x1.Opt be enough for PES 2013 with a graphics card like the GTS 450? (To put this question better: With a graphics card like the GTS 450 what linking method is required to play PES 2013?)

2. I remember reading you can do a x2 1.0 link by using an expresscard slot and a PCIe port. How exactly is that done? Does it require taking your laptop apart?

3. If the graphics card I plan on buying is PCIe 2.0 capable, does that mean it won't work/lose perfomance if connected to a PCIe 1.0 bus?

4. What kind of setup do you reccomend for my T400 and specifically for PES 2013? Should I go with a certain graphics card/link setup? (worthy of note: my laptop has switchable graphics)


P.S even though PES 2013 is a new game (hasn't even come out yet, release date is oct. 2012) it's not very demanding graphically. I usually go on the game-debate site to check if certain graphics cards can run this game, but I realise some performance is lost when setting up an eGPU. That is basically why I'm asking for your opinion and help on this. Thanks in advance and thanks for your time!